T21Finance · Careers
Work Now or Study First
One starts earning on day one. The other spends years in lecture halls, then earns more. Who ends up with the bigger total income, and who with the bigger savings? Change the salaries and the years, and see when the detour pays off.
Images generated by AI.
1.3Step 1 · The two paths (change any amount: the result updates)
Every amount on this page is in this currency.
1.4Step 2 · The assumptions (every value is an assumption: change any of them and the curves move)
Only used with the exchange-rate setting below. If the investments are in the same currency as the salaries, the exchange rate changes nothing.
1.5Work now or study first, over 20 years
Total income earned
Your total saving
Monthly income
Monthly saving
1.6Show the year-by-year details
2How it works
2.1The idea
Two people are followed from today. The first earns a salary every year. The second earns nothing while studying, then a higher salary. Both save a share of what they earn, and the savings are invested the same way. We compare the total income and the savings after the years you choose.
2.2What is counted
Each salary and its yearly raises, the years of study, the share saved, investment returns (capital and dividends), tax on dividends and on the gain, inflation, and the exchange rate between the investments and the salaries.
2.3What is not
Tuition fees, student loans, living costs during the studies, unemployment, family help, the satisfaction of the job, and anything that is not money. Future salaries and returns are assumptions you set, not forecasts.
2.4How to use it
Start with your own numbers, then test the weak points: lower the salary after the studies, add a year of study, cut the investment return. If the winner changes easily, the choice is not about money alone.